8 Ways to Keep Your Wedding Budget Under $10,000

Planning a wedding on a budget is as hard as finding your soulmate to spend your entire life with. From the drinks to photography, wedding dresses, and cake, everything has to be on point to make the celebration special. I wanted the same when I proposed to my girlfriend. We had been in a relationship for well over 9 months and realized that we had to make it official and become man and wife.

I had already seen my friends spending all of their savings and going into debt to have an extravagant wedding and that did put me under a lot of stress. So my wife and I sat down and agreed on the fact that we don’t want to spend all of our savings on a one-day venture when we can travel around the world or at least the country.

An average Aussie wedding cost is $36,000 according to MoneySmarts.au. Having known this, we were extremely clear that our savings can come in handy during our honeymoon or the down payment on the apartment in Melbourne I had my eyes upon. In short, we decided to have a wedding under a $10K budget. Shocking, right? Not so if you plan it out.

So here is how I and my wife managed our big day economically.

1. Have a Backyard Wedding

To no one’s surprise, weddings under 10K aren’t easy to organize. It is pretty evident that wedding receptions taking place in private studios or on farmhouses are pretty expensive and they can drain your bank account too. Now as we already had agreed to cut the expenses down so instead of kissing my misses on the oceans or the top of the opera house we decided we do it here. My parents have a house with a sizable backyard in Melbourne. Now some of you might not have that luxury available but you can always contact a relative or close friend with an accommodating backyard or a lawn. Having a backyard wedding under $10,000 is more than possible.

Booking a venue for marriage in the Down Under takes around $3000. Moreover, catering charges depend upon the number of guests invited and the menu you decide on. So by choosing a backyard as our wedding venue we saved $3000.

2. Find A Good And Affordable Local Florist

Now with that choice of venue was out of the way, it was time to choose floral arrangements. Professional florists were far too expensive for us. The majority of them had prices starting from $1000 for simple flower arrangements. Spending that much on flowers didn’t make any sense to us. So we decided to contact local vendors who were a lot cheaper and had an excellent variety. We looked up the term ‘budget wedding ideas Australia’ on the search engine and after a couple of hours, we knew what we wanted. Of course, it did take some time to search for the right one but it saved us a lot of dollars and hassle.

We found a good vendor who decided to charge us $450 for flower arrangements. Crazy! Right? We paid him $100 extra to make sure everything is right on point. The lesson to learn here is that you can find a decent florist without spending $2000. The chances are that your local florist is just as good as some of the famous ones.

3. Rent A Tuxedo

While I was open to most budget wedding ideas, this one had me worried. Finding the right dress on a budget for both the bride and the groom is a hassle. We didn’t go for any upmarket brand like the majority of the couples do. Instead, we decided to get the bride’s dress tailored by a local designer. It took us a month to look for ideas and inspiration.

Once we decided how the dress should look, we chose an affordable fabric that looks expensive. We took it to the tailor and he designed the exact same silhouette originally offered for $2500 within just $1300. For myself, I rented a tux for $300 because I know I won’t be wearing them a lot. It’s more than possible to have a DIY wedding for under $10,000 if you’re willing to be a bit humble.

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4. Contact A Local Baker

You can’t have a wedding without a cake now, can you? An average wedding cost in Australia for cake is $550 in Melbourne which is alright for some people. We contacted a local bakery and inquired about the charges. The difference wasn’t that great but it was still enough for us as we could use the saved money for something else. So we got the cake for $250 and it wasn’t at all bad. The additional dressings cost us $100. So the total amount was $350.

Another easy way is to ask around your mates. There are many people who are hobby bakers and can deliver you a good cake at an affordable rate.

5. Keep The Guest List Short

The only thing remaining that could cost us overtly was the catering. The average wedding catering cost in Australia is $9,891. But there’s a way to save here as well. You need to finalize the guest list as early as possible and keep it short. For us, it was only our immediate families, some colleagues, and a couple of close friends. The catering company we contacted offered to plan the entire event for us. Since we already had everything planned out, we were looking for a company that would only cover us for catering services and reception dinner. We finalized a company that agreed to cater our wedding for $1450 with exclusive services from food to beverages and tablets.

6. Get An Up-And-Coming DJ

Now it was time to plan our wedding music. Since we didn’t want Blues, or Jazz so we hired a DJ with a music system and paid him $300 for the event. The kid was a student and was happily making extra cash. The DJ performed for two hours after the reception as we thought that was enough time for the guests to get their moves out.

7. Find Young Photographers On Instagram

Now comes the part that excited us the most; the wedding photos and videos. You cannot learn how to have a wedding under $10K without sorting this one out. Nowadays there are various production houses in the country that specialize in wedding shoots and are expensive to afford. A professional wedding photographer charges nothing less than $2500.

We couldn’t spend that much on photography therefore we started looking for young professionals starting out in the field of photography looking for work. Don’t worry you will find plenty on Instagram, all it takes is careful research and a clear idea of your budget. We got a young university graduate who did photography as a hobby. The entire package cost us $1000 including the videography and editing. This brought us to half our budget of $5300.

7. Decrease Other Expenses

Once everything was done, all that was left was hair and makeup. My wife got a bride discount on her hairstyling which cost us $180. Her wedding makeup was done at the same salon for $220. Our wedding invitations were designed by a graphic design student who charged us $300 for his services. We didn’t get our invitations printed. We sent them out online which cost us nothing. Oh and I almost forgot about the rings which cost us $1000.

So we spent $7000 on our wedding in total. We had the cheapest wedding ever in our social circle and we couldn’t be any more proud. With a little research, we made sure that everything looks expensive even though it was a wedding on a budget in Australia, which is an extremely expensive country. Don’t feel ashamed if you cannot afford a wedding as grand as your neighbours or mates. A wedding is not about the day it’s about the life ahead. Save a few bucks and plan ahead. Many stores offer special discounts for weddings. You can get up to 50% discount through Shouz Discount Code on different varieties of shoes.

So if you were wondering if it is possible to have a wedding under $10,000 in Australia, the answer is yes. You just have to be a bit smart with your spending.

Published on: February 27, 2023